The Blood of Olympus
by freakofnature14
Summary: The seven half-bloods must defeat Gaea and her army, but it's not going to be easy. Alternate ending to The Blood of Olympus
1. Chapter 1

Chapter one: Jason

In which Percy's nosebleed nearly gets everyone killed

The ground shifted under Jason's feet. Slow, deep laughter like the sound of an avalanche surrounded the Greek and Roman troops. Gaea was awake.

For a horrible second, everyone was quiet. Piper, Leo, and the rest of the crew stood tense at his side, and the enemy army crawling with Gaea's ugly offspring was as still as one of medusa's statues. Then, a rift opened up in the earth, snaking towards the demigods. The battle had begun.

Jason barely managed to scramble away from the gaping pit before the Cyclopes were upon them. He drew his sword in time to parry what would have been a fatal jab and lopped his attacker's head. He went on autopilot, Slash. Dodge. Electrocute. Parry. Stab. He found himself next to Hazel, who was bending the mist to hide their position, and cutting down any monster who came close.

Jason took the short relief from the battle as an opportunity and began calling the winds to him, forming his own personal cyclone. With a yell of "For Rome!" he released the winds and sent every monster in a ten-meter radius flying.

Jason could see the rest of the battlefield now, and it made him want to throw up.

All attempt to protect the cabins had been abandoned, as there were hardly any cabins left. Massive earthquakes had torn through the battlefield, leaving nothing but wreckage in their wake. The remaining soldiers were scattered, set on just staying alive when the very ground beneath their feet wanted them dead. Nico stood in the thick of it, desperately trying to correct the damage, he closed a gaping hole in the earth before it could swallow anyone up, and collapsed to his knees in exhaustion. Leo stood nearby, forcing away the scorched ash and cinder coming from a volcano that had had most certainly NOT been there before, frantically trying to keep the scene from turning into a modern-day pompeii.

Jason's observation was cut short when a massive spire of rock erupted under his feet. "AAAUUGGHH!" he screamed, as he skidded down the newly-created cliff-face. He crashed into Hazel on his way down and they landed in a tangled heap.

Jason extricated himself and turned in time to see Half-Blood hill morph into a grinning face with horrible green eyes. Gaea. She spoke in a voice like gravel: _"Foolish demigods. Did you really think you could defeat the earth itself? I have trapped you like mice. And when you are gone, the gods will be next. I will take my rightful place as the sole goddess of this world."_

Jason was frozen. He didn't know what to do. How do you strike back against the oldest, most powerful goddess in the universe?

"We have to stop her." Hazel growled. "With what?" He asked, "Global warming? Litter?"

Piper's voice rang out of the fray. She was standing right in front of the evil earth goddess.

"You don't want to kill us Gaea. What's a queen without any subjects? Maybe you should sleep on this… for a long, _long _time."

For a second it looked like it worked. Gaea's earthy eyelids drooped.

_"Queen…." _She mumbled. _"Subjects…."_

Then she snapped back to reality with a roar. _"I've had 3,000 years to sleep on this daughter of Aphrodite! You will perish now!"_

Her face melted away into the grass and the hillside crumbled into a landslide. Piper barely had time to step backwards before she was buried in the rocks.

"PIPER!" Jason screamed.

He ran towards the wreckage, Hazel right beside him. He could see her fingertips sticking out from under the dirt. He started trying to dig her out but Hazel pushed him away.

"Let me."

She carefully shifted the earth away from Piper's body, and Jason pulled her out. She was alive and conscious, thank the gods, but she groaned in pain when she tried to sit up. Her right leg was a broken, bloody mess.

"Shit, Piper." Jason murmured.

"I'll be fine." Piper grunted.

"Besides, you've got bigger things to worry about."

Right on cue, campers started screaming. Jason turned to see the biggest chasm yet open up in the earth. It was easily the size of soccer field, and even has he watched, four screaming soldiers fell into the pit. "Go help them! I'll care of Piper." Hazel yelled. She waved her hand and the mist shifted, making the girls look like part of Gaea's own army. Jason nodded and raced towards the pit.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Reyna is a badass and no one is surprised

For a minute, Reyna thought they could win. Sure, fighting legions of deadly monsters wasn't easy, but they'd managed to protect camp Jupiter from Gaea's forces, and that was before they had both camps working together. The earthquakes though? Those were a game changer. There was no training for how to win a war when the battlefield itself was your enemy.

Reyna lunged at a particularly large Cyclops, jabbing her spear into his belly. She stepped in closer as she dodged his club. Maybe, just maybe, Gaea wouldn't attack if her own subjects were in the way. She hacked at the Cyclops' legs and brought it to the ground, finishing it off with a stab to the eye, and quickly moved on to her next opponent, a snake-legged Dracaena.

The close-combat strategy seemed to be working. A few yards away, Annabeth and Nico were doing the same thing, they were each locked in combat with a Cyclops, dodging its attacks, but always staying within a few feet of it. Reyna lent strength to her soldiers and ordered them to follow suit. One-on-one fighting wasn't exactly Roman style, but it was their best bet.

Reyna was in a full-on fight with her third monster when things started to go sour. She rolled between the enemy Cyclops' legs and came up standing, ready to run it through with her spear, but then she saw Annabeth standing, completely frozen in fear, facing her Cyclops. Reyna lent her courage and screamed at her to _move,_ to _do_ something before she got herself killed- but the Cyclops didn't attack. It was- talking to her?

Just then a massive force slammed into Reyna, knocking her back fifteen feet. She hit the ground hard and groaned, looking up to see the Cyclops bearing down on her. She wheezed and stretched her praetors cape (specially modified by the goddess Athena to act as a shield) over herself before it could hit her again. The fabric absorbed the impact and the monster stepped backwards, clutching the hand that had been burned by the celestial-bronze-infused fabric, but Reyna couldn't do much more than lay there and try to catch her breath. She couldn't see Annabeth anywhere. What had happened back there?

Reyna forced herself to stand and readied her spear, facing the Cyclops. But it didn't attack. Instead, it turned around and dashed for the woods. Reyna stood there, confused. She didn't look _that _threatening did she? Then she noticed the rest of the monsters following suit, as if they'd received a command to retreat. "Oh no…"

Annabeth materialized next to her, holding a Yankees baseball cap as if she'd just taken it off. She shoved a canteen of nectar into Reyna's hand. "Drink this. We have to get out _now._" Reyna took a swig of the liquid and strength flowed back into her limbs. It tasted like hot chocolate from the street vendors in New Rome. Annabeth yelled to the remaining soldiers: "Everybody, get to the beach! We don't have much time!"

That's when the earth started cracking underneath them. No better incentive than that.

The Greek and Roman campers dashed for the Long island sound.

Reyna heard someone scream. She glanced back to see one of the campers- Connor? dangling from the edge of the ever-widening chasm. She cursed and doubled back to haul him up. Even as Connor made it to solid ground, three more of her soldiers fell into the pit as the earth crumbled under their feet. Reyna pushed Connor ahead of her and they continued their frantic sprint to the safety of the ocean. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jason swoop in like superman and dive into the pit to rescue the survivors. Reyna and the rest made it to the waterline where Percy was waiting for them. He waved his hand and the water solidified under their feet, which Reyna was grateful for. Trying to swim in full Roman armor wasn't exactly a pleasant experience.

About fifty Romans and thirty campers had made it to the ocean, the chasm now stretched all the way to the beach, and seawater was rushing into it, creating a canal that was _not_ going to be easy to explain to the mortals.

The air in front of them shimmered like a mirage and Hazel materialized, half-carrying Piper, who looked ready to pass out. Two Apollo kids immediately set to work on splinting her broken leg. Jason flew out of the chasm, straining to keep the not-exactly-petite Dakota aloft.

Reyna counted heads a second time, and a lump rose in her throat.

"Where's Nico?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three

Annabeth

Annabeth felt completely exposed. Eighty demigods, camped out on a watery ocean platform (courtesy of Percy) with no cover of any kind? Not exactly an ideal place to regroup. Unfortunately it was the best they had.

Things were looking grim. The demigods that had made it to the safety of the water didn't even amount to a third of those that were there for the start of the battle. Nico was nowhere to be found. Frank and Leo were missing too. All the survivors looked a mixture of terrified and furious, especially Hazel.

Annabeth looked out at the wreckage of camp half-blood, feeling sick. The land that _had_ been the battlefield stopped churning and solidified into Gaea's snarling face, strangely cracked and crumbled. Gaea hissed, _"YOU WILL NOT LAST-"_ Then Hazel screeched and charged the goddess.

Annabeth tackled her to the water before she could get herself killed.

"Hazel DON'T!"

"Let me go Annabeth!"

Hazel struggled against her and it was all Annabeth could do to keep her friend pinned.

"I'll tear her apart! I'll kill her! She-she killed them!"

"You're going to get YOURSELF killed!" Annabeth yelled. The other soldiers were getting up now, unsure of what to do.

"I DON'T CARE! I don't care- I don't-"

"Hazel, stop."

Piper's voice washed over them, heavily enhanced by charmspeak. She had propped herself up on a makeshift cane and hobbled over to them. Hazel half-heartedly kept trying to push Annabeth off, but was in no danger of doing so.

"Nico and the rest are fine. I'm sure of it."

"Really?" Hazel asked, her voice like a small child's. She had gone completely limp. Annabeth cautiously got off of her and helped her to her feet.

Piper looked pained, but forced a smile and nodded. "Absolutely, and… even if something _did_ happen, it's not worth throwing away your life for. Nothing is."

Hazel nodded. "I-I'm sorry. I guess… I'll go see if I can find any weapons on the ocean floor. We'll need to stock up."

Piper smiled. "That would be great."

. . .

Fifteen minutes later, Annabeth, Reyna, Percy, Jason, and Clarisse were sitting in a circle in the middle of their watery raft, discussing what their next move should be.

One question kept coming up over and over again: How can we defeat the earth? Annabeth replayed the events of the day over and over, trying to glean as much information as possible from what had happened. The rest of the soldiers were either injured, or lining up to get a soggy new weapon from Hazel. She had managed to bring dozens of barnacle encrusted spears, swords, and daggers up to the surface.

The Hermes cabin had had a sort of tradition-they would steal the opposing cabin's prize weapons before a big capture the flag match and dump them in the ocean. Annabeth never thought she'd be grateful for their tricks, but hey, having an entire armory underwater proved to be useful.

"I'm out of ideas." Percy said as he stood up and stretched, glancing up at the sky. He paused, staring in disbelief, then grinned. "It's them!"

Annabeth turned to see a dragon diving towards them and a tiny figure riding on its back. Campers scattered as the dragon landed. It shrank and transformed back into Frank Zhang, and Leo promptly fell off his shoulders in a disgruntled heap.

"Come on man! Warn me next time!"

Hazel pushed through the crowd and wrapped them both in a bone-crushing hug. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and even Reyna weren't far behind.

It turned out that Frank had taken to the skies when things got ugly, picking up Leo on the way. They'd spied on the enemy forces after the retreat.

"Gaea's been sending her minions to carry messages to the sea monsters, and rally them to attack." Frank said. "We picked off all of them though, I think."

"It was Awesome!" Leo gushed. They never even saw us coming!

"Sorry to be a buzzkill," Clarisse interjected, "But what's Gaea even doing trying to get sea monsters on her side? She can control the ground under water. What's stopping her from skewering us right now?"

"What a lovely thought." Percy said.

"You know I'm right." Clarisse shot back.

It was true, Gaea had been awfully quiet the past hour. Annabeth scanned the torn-up earth of the battlefield, looking for answers. She noticed some of the smaller cracks smoothing out into solid ground. The biggest chasm was slowly, almost imperceptibly, knitting itself back together. Annabeth remembered the last time Gaea had made an appearance, the cracks in her face, and smiled.

"She can't attack. She pushed herself too far. She's healing herself."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Hope you guys like this! This is my first fanfiction, and I'd love to hear what you think!

-FreakofNature


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Nico

The last thing Nico saw before he blacked out was a new chasm threatening to swallow up Reyna and her soldiers. Then he lost consciousness.

When he woke up, -if you can call it that- he was completely encased in darkness.

For a second he panicked. Was he dead?

-But no, he wasn't in the underworld, he realized. He was in the shadows. Like shadow travel except… he couldn't seem to move.

Nico tried to pull out of the darkness; he focused on one spot, the Big House.

It was protected by magical enchantments and, as far as he knew, Gaea hadn't managed to break them. Almost immediately, a massive wave of fatigue washed over him, and he gave up. He clearly wasn't going anywhere.

And that scared him much, much worse then being dead would have.

_I could be trapped in here forever while the war is won or lost without me._

He had to go back.

He knew he wouldn't be any help. He'd already pushed himself way past his limits- to the point where he'd literally dissolved into shadow apparently. But spending eternity alone in the darkness wasn't exactly on his bucket list.

Hazel was out there somewhere- Reyna and Coach Hedge too. People who genuinely liked him, assuming they weren't dead.

How much time had passed? A few minutes? A few days?

Nico extended his senses to the underworld to find out how many had died, and immediately regretted it.

Hundreds. Both Demigods and mortals who must have gotten in the way of Gaea's rampage, as well as an unpleasant tingling sensation that meant someone he knew well had died.

_Oh no._

He had to go back.

He forced himself to move through the shadow, ignoring the overwhelming exhaustion that came with it.

What if it was Hazel?

He was moving, he didn't care where.

What if it was Reyna?

Out. He had to get out.

What if it was Percy?

And then he saw sunlight, though he didn't have time to enjoy it before he passed out a second time.

….

Nico woke up lying on a couch in the Big House living room. He could hear a baby crying nearby.

He looked around. The room had been turned into an infirmary. Mitchell, the Aphrodite kid, slept on a mat next to him, his chest covered in bandages.

The door to the room creaked open and Will Solace stepped in, carrying a doctor's bag. He had dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"Mitchell, you awake? We need to change your bandages."

He stopped when he saw Nico sitting up, and grinned.

"Hey, you're up!" He said as he walked over and poured Nico a glass of Nectar from a pitcher on the coffee table.

"You were in a coma for three days. I was getting worried."

"Three days?!" Nico croaked, accepting the Nectar.

"Yeah. And missing for two. I don't know how you stayed out of Gaea's way that long, but you were lucky enough to make it to the big house porch when you came back. Scared Lacy half to death, she said you just appeared there."

Nico nodded. Up on the wall, a random mounted leopard head-one that was apparently more alive than he'd thought it was- started growling at him.

"Oh, shut up Seymour." Will said, stuffing a wad of gauze in its mouth.

He turned back to Nico. "So, do you need anything? How are you feeling?"

Nico answered his questions with another one: "Who didn't make it back?"

Will bit his lip. "Chris Rodriguez, Katie Gardner, Nyssa, and a bunch of others."

"Who else?"

Will sighed. "Jason Grace."

A/N: Alright, Chapter Four! Sorry about that cliff hanger :D Chapter five should be up within a week, and it'll pick up right where chapter three left off. Until next time….

-FreakofNature


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Hazel

A/N: Here's chapter five! Sorry for the wait, school caught up to me. This chapter takes place right after Annabeth's Pov, enjoy!

Hazel sat in a circle with the rest of the survivors while Annabeth laid out the plan of attack.

"We need to get Gaea to attack on her own." Annabeth said. "So we'll need a team to take out Gaea's forces while she's still incapacitated, Reyna, Clarisse and I can lead that team, and Frank can show us where the base is. We'll need as many people as possible, so if you're up for volunteering, please stand."

Hazel and Percy started to get up, but Annabeth smiled and shook her head at them.

"We need you guys for part two of the plan: _Keep_ Gaea out of the picture until we can take care of her army. We know she can't attack in this state, so we're going to need anyone good with wind, water, earth, or explosives to keep her from healing herself. Keep her from repairing the damage, reopen old chasms, whatever you can do. That means you two, Jason, Leo, Ni-" She stopped herself before she could say Nico.

"… And anyone who's good with Greek fire needs to stay here and keep her busy."

"But how do we take her out?" Dakota asked.

Annabeth faltered.

"If we can get her to show herself, concentrate most of her energy in one place, and then attack, we might be able to put her in a coma for another 3,000 years." Clarisse filled in for her.

"Might?" A camper asked.

Clarisse threw up her hands. "Hey, it worked before didn't it?"

"Yeah, when all the gods were there to help."

"What I'm more worried about." Piper cut in. "Is how we're going to get her to show herself in the first place. I learned the hard way that she doesn't handle charmspeak well."

Silence fell over the group. A pit formed in Hazel's stomach.

"We need to bait her, don't we?"

Annabeth nodded.

"No way." Percy said, glaring at Annabeth.

Leo stood up, ignoring Percy. "Sounds like something I can handle. I'll lure her out from the Argo 2, so maybe I could get away."

"Leo you don't have to-" Hazel protested. Leo stopped her with an almost imperceptible shake of his head.

"It'll be fine. Just as planned." He said while looking from her to Frank. Hazel nodded. He had the physician's cure for exactly this reason. It was the best way.

Annabeth cleared he throat. "Alright. Frank? Whenever you're ready."

Frank stood up. "Okay. Guys? You might want to back off a little."

The other demigods scrambled back as Frank transformed into a huge dragon with two rows of spikes down its back.

"All volunteers for the attacking team, climb on!" Reyna shouted.

The demigods around her hesitated a moment, then practically rushed dragon-Frank, pushing and shoving for a spot. By the time Annabeth, Clarisse, and Reyna joined them, and Frank took off for the enemy base, there were only a handful of people left.

Hazel looked around at the rest of them. Aside from the rest of the seven, there were a few Hephaestus and Hermes kids who had managed to salvage some Greek fire, and some people so injured that they wouldn't be any help either way.

She drew herself up to her full height, (which was a grand total of five feet three inches) and said "Attention soldiers! Let's kick some goddess ass!"

The ragtag group of heroes cheered as they turned to the battlefield. Hazel drew the remainder of the pile of celestial bronze weapons to her and directed them towards the biggest chasm, which was slowly repairing itself. Payback time.

With a yell she sent the daggers and swords hurtling into the earth around the chasm like a volley of bronze arrows. With a crushing motion she drew them back together, taking the solid ground with them and making the chasm collapse in on itself. She drew the weapons back to her side while Percy sent in a massive wave that covered the entire battlefield. When the water receded it took about half of the beach with it.

It felt a little silly to be attacking dirt, but this particular dirt had tried to kill her and the best friends she'd ever known, and that was all the incentive Hazel needed.

For a minute, nothing happened. Then for an instant Gaea's snarling face appeared in the mud, and the earth smoothed itself over impossibly fast, hills and cliff faces crumbling to fill the gaping holes created in the battle.

Hazel stumbled backwards, a sense of dread settling in.

"No. You. Don't!" Leo screamed. With each word he lobbed a jar of Greek fire at the goddess, leaving smoking craters in the ground.

Apparently Gaea didn't like that.

Two spires of rock erupted from the ocean floor and shattered the watery platform they'd been standing on.

Hazel found herself submerged in a sea of white bubbles. She kicked and came sputtering to the surface, along with Jason, Leo, and a few others. No sooner had she taken a few breaths than she realized that most of the injured-including Piper-hadn't come up yet. She took one last gulp of air and dived beneath the surface. The water was thick with silt and she could barely see her hand in front of her face. Desperately she extended her senses, searching for gold, silver, anything that might have been in someone's jewelry when they went under. She remembered that Piper had been wearing a turquoise bracelet just as she zeroed in on a string of that same stone. She kicked toward it and reached out.

Her fingers touched skin and she grabbed Piper's arm, dragging her up to the air above. Their heads broke the surface and Piper coughed, kicking feebly with her one good leg while Hazel guided her over to one of the spires, which she clung to as she caught her breath.

"I'm going back, you stay here." Hazel told her before submerging herself again.

She extended her senses a second time and found a small chunk of silver. She dove toward it, swimming all the way to the bottom. Her lungs burned and she'd almost given up on finding anyone when she reached the person wearing the silver. She grabbed their collar and pushed up off the ocean floor, kicking towards the surface. When they met the air, Hazel saw that Percy had brought the water platform back along with the rest of the people. Jason and Leo rushed over and pulled her up, while Percy lifted the person she'd rescued, an unconscious roman boy who was wearing a silver earring and had an ugly stab wound in his side, out of the water. Percy laid the boy flat, and with a hand motion, pulled the water out of his lungs. The boy didn't move.

Percy placed a hand on his chest, then shook his head.

"Nothing. He's dead."

"The Physician's Cure?" Jason suggested, looking at Piper.

A lump rose in Hazel's throat. Piper didn't _have_ the cure, Leo did, and as horrible as it was, she'd rather lose this nameless boy from her camp than Leo.

Piper bit her lip, and to Hazel's surprise, shook her head. "Let's save it. In case someone else needs it."

Hazel knew what she really meant; _let's save it for one of the seven._ Apparently Jason agreed because he nodded and turned towards the barren battlefield.

Hazel glanced around. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a shimmering in the air. She frowned and watched as the shimmer grew and morphed into a watery image of Annabeth.

"Percy!" She hissed. "Look!" Percy turned and his eyes widened.

"Annabeth! What's going on over there? Are you okay?" The rest of the demigods turned to see what was happening.

To Hazel's surprise Annabeth answered.

"Gaea's attacking us! We're retreating now. Start the baiting strategy ASAP. We'll try to get there to help before her army does."

Percy shook his head. "Wait! But-"

On the other side of the image, someone called Annabeth's name.

"I have to go!" She said, and her image dissipated into mist.

Leo was the first to break the silence.

"Okay. Baiting strategy a-go. Jason, can you help me get to the Argo 2?"

Jason shook his head. "That'll take to long. I can fly on my own. Let me take this one."

Before anyone could protest, Jason took off. He flew to the middle of the battlefield and hovered there.

"Come out and face me Gaea!" He shouted. He held out his spear and a lightning bolt streaked down from the sky, leaving a crater in the ground. A point of rock erupted from the ground and pierced the air where Jason had been, but he dodged it easily.

"Not going to work!" Another rock spire jutted out of the ground and he dodged again.

"Show yourself Gaea! Show me you're not afraid to fight a demigod!"

A chuckle rang out from the earth. The ground below Jason swelled and stretched until it took the form of Gaea rising out of the dirt. Hazel strained and pulled the celestial bronze weapons off the ocean floor and readied them. Just over the hill, she saw dragon-Frank flying towards them with the rest of their reinforcements. They were almost there, but weren't coming fast enough.

Jason would face the goddess alone, with only Hazel, Percy, and a wounded Piper to back him up.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

Frank

Frank had taken the form of a four ton flying lizard and was flying their makeshift demigod army over half-blood hill when it happened.

He saw Gaea rise out of the mud in front of a tiny figure-who had to be Jason.

And he saw things go wrong.

As soon as Gaea showed herself a massive bolt of lightning came down from the sky and struck her, and a wave combined with a glittering stream of weapons overtook the goddess.

With his extra keen dragon-vision, Frank could make out Percy and Hazel on the shore, sending wave after wave at Gaea while Jason summoned more and more lightning.

The children of the three major gods were holding their own.

But when the water receded, when the lightning fizzled out and the weapons clattered to the ground, Gaea was still standing.

The goddess trembled with rage, her form crumbling as she raised her arms and the ground around her erupted into fire and ash.

The explosion was so big it knocked Frank-along with the sixty-odd soldiers that had been riding on his back- straight out of the air. Jason took the brunt of the blast and was flung to the side. The eruptions continued and ash choked the sky. The sight of all that fire made Frank want to turn into a tortoise and hide in his shell, but instead he spread his fire-proof dragon wings over his friends to protect them.

No sooner had he done this than Reyna crawled out and started running to the other side of the battlefield.

Dragon-Frank huffed and swung his tail around so it blocked her path.

Reyna turned, and the look she gave him made him feel as small as a mouse, but he held his ground.

"I have to go find Jason." Reyna told him. "Now move."

Frank snorted and nodded his scaly head towards the fire, like 'not in this you won't!'

Reyna smiled and held out her cloak. "This is infused with celestial bronze. It withstood a bomb. It can withstand this. I'll be fine."

Frank reluctantly moved his tail and watched as Reyna sprinted towards the spot where Jason had disappeared. Then he tucked his head under his wing to wait out the attack.

The rest of the demigods sat in silence under his wings as the heat became stifling. Frank felt hot chunks of rock and ash rain down on his scaly hide and resisted the urge to fly away. He would stay and protect his comrades to the end if it came to it. The same way his mom had.

Suddenly the attack stopped. Frank could tell they were no longer stuck in an inferno, and instead of burning hot ash, he felt water droplets on his back.

Cautiously, he raised his head, and grinned a toothy dragon grin when he saw Percy. Commanding his own personal hurricane, he was absolutely tearing through Gaea.

Frank lifted his wings off his friends and transformed back into a human. They all cheered as Percy consumed Gaea in his hurricane.

Gaea screamed in rage as she dissolved under Percy's onslaught.

The whole scene reminded Frank of the wicked witch of the west's death from _The Wizard of Oz. _

'_I'm melting!'_

Percy kept drawing water from the ocean and created an even bigger storm. He attacked until there was nothing left of Gaea. But he didn't stop there.

He drained the ocean so much that it left hundreds of fish flopping on the beach.

Frank stepped backwards nervously and glanced at Annabeth, who was staring at Percy with tears in her eyes.

"Not this. Not again…" She whispered.

"Annabeth!" Frank yelled. "What's wrong? Why isn't he stopping?"

Annabeth looked at him. "I think he's out of control… He thinks Gaea killed us… We have to get out of here!"

Frank looked around for any possible shelter and spotted the Big House, because of the protection enchantments on it, it was the only structure in the camp that was still standing.

"Over there!"

The demigods raced for the safety of the house as the wind grew steadily stronger. When they all got to the porch, Frank turned and saw Reyna carrying Jason's unconscious body fireman-style toward them.

He and Annabeth ran back into the storm to help her.

Frank took one of Jason's arms while Annabeth took the other, giving Reyna a much-needed break. He glanced at the hurricane, and for a moment stood rooted to the spot, unable to take his eyes away. Through the swirling cyclone of water, he could just make out Percy in the center of it. He was screaming, his face twisted in rage as the storm started to move towards them.

"I have to stop him."

"Frank!" Annabeth protested. "I don't think you can!"

Ignoring her, he turned to Reyna. "Can you two get Jason back on your own?"

Reyna was looking at him coolly, but she nodded. "Good luck, praetor Zhang."

"You _can't_ be agreeing with this!" Annabeth said, but Frank had already transformed into a hawk and taken flight.

Frank slowly gained altitude, struggling to stay in control as the winds tossed him back and forth.

He remembered what Mars had told him at his grandmothers mansion. _'Someday soon, Percy Jackson is going to face a sacrifice he can't make. Without you Frank-without your sense of duty-he's going to fail. The whole war will go sideways.'_

Was this what he had meant?

The hurricane was tearing through the camp woods now.

That without Frank to stop him, _Percy _would be the one to destroy the camps? The heroes?

He was circling over the eye of the storm now; and Percy was in the center of it all.

Frank tucked his wings in and dived toward him.

Halfway down he turned back into himself and slammed into Percy, tackling him to the ground. Percy yelped and sent a wave of water at him, but Frank wouldn't let him go.

"Percy it's Frank!" Frank yelled. "You beat Gaea! Everyone's fine! It's over!"

Percy looked at him and the tons of water he'd been controlling crashed to the ground. Frank was washed several yards backwards as the water rushed back into the ocean. Percy of course, had no such trouble.

Frank stumbled and slipped through the mud and helped Percy up.

"…Frank…?" Percy's eyes widened "Is Annabeth-?"

"She's fine." Frank reassured him.

Percy looked around the camp, which looked, well, like a hurricane had run through it.

"Did I do this?"

"Yes." No use sugarcoating it.

Percy hissed. "Stupid. Stupid! If you hadn't been there…"

Frank didn't know how to respond to this, but luckily he didn't have too. Percy only took a few steps before he swayed and passed out from exhaustion. Frank felt like passing out too, but he had to take care of his friend first. He threw Percy over his shoulder and trekked back to the Big House.

When they got to the porch Annabeth threw open the door and hauled them both inside.

They laid Percy on the couch in the living room. (Which was already crowded with at least a dozen other half-bloods.)

Annabeth ran down the hallway and came back with a frazzled looking blonde camper who was carrying a first aid kit and a canteen of nectar.

"Not _another _one." The camper groaned before setting to work on Percy.

Annabeth pulled Frank to the side.

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Annabeth shook her head. "You know as well as I do that he could have killed all of us… and this isn't the first time this kind of thing has happened." She said, her voice shaking.

Frank picked the torn edge of his shirt. "You mean… In Tartarus?"

She nodded. "I don't know what to do…"

That was a first.

Frank had never been good at giving advice, but he tried his best.

"Well… This is his problem right? It's not your job to fix it. If he needs your help he can ask you, but it's up to him to deal with it. I guess… Just don't worry about it for now okay? Just do whatever's best for you."

"Maybe." Annabeth took a shaky breath. "Another thing, we're sending out a search party in half an hour for the people who were on the beach when… things got ugly. Hazel, Piper, Leo, about a dozen others. You want to come?"

'Of course!"

"Great. Your shape shifting will probably come in handy."

Just then Reyna walked into the room. She looked pale and grief-stricken, but she held herself high as she strode into the center of the room and announced:

"Jason Grace died a few minutes ago."


End file.
